School of Public Health

Summary

 Most previous statistics on the use of health information technologies eHealth use have been generated by surveys of patients and physician practices or through social media, and the findings may not be representative of a general population. Leveraging high-quality register data available in Denmark, the project aims to understand social patterning in eHealth use and for which conditions eHealth use is most beneficial. We will also use the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians data to analyze the availability of and regional variations in online services offered by general practitioners and specialists in Germany.

Detailed description

Rapid technological changes have resulted in the widespread use of the internet for health purposes (eHealth use). eHealth use can encompass a range of activities, such as searching for a new doctor, preparing for or following up on a doctor’s appointment, purchasing medications, managing personal health records, and as a means of communication between patients and doctors. Growing interest in e-health use has fueled research documenting its general trends and determinants, as well as how it modifies users’ health behaviors. However, most previous statistics on eHealth use have been generated by surveys of patients and physician practices or through social media, which may not be representative of the general population. 

To understand whether eHealth use is patterned by gender and other socio-demographic characteristics, large-scale population studies are needed. Using an exceptional data source covering the whole Danish population, this project will describe trends in eHealth use in the country from 2005 onwards and provide a comprehensive assessment of its socio-demographic determinants. By linking the data source with various surveys available in Denmark, as well as register data on hospitalization and medication use, it will also investigate for which health conditions e-hHealth use is most common and beneficial. Given the rapid increase on the reliance of technology for communication in providing health care over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be informative to investigate how these patterns have changed. 
Since health information technologies are in process of being integrated into the German healthcare system, this project will provide timely and important insights into understanding the socio-demographic patterning of eHealth use. These findings can be further used to design specific programs aiming to improve knowledge of and skills in eHealth use among these specific groups. They can also be used to accommodate the needs of a growing population of disabled older people, especially those residing in remote regions with limited healthcare services.